Great Game & Game Birds

It is a fresh, sparkling morning in late September, yet I hesitate to put my head outside the door. Shots have been echoing in the woods since first light, signaling the beginning of hunting season. Hunting follows soccer as the favorite outdoor pursuit of the French, with fishing in third place. All over our département in northern Burgundy, village hunt clubs have spent weeks preparing for the fall assault on game birds, such as pheasant, partridge, and wild duck. Deer and wild boar still have a few weeks’ reprieve, while it is open season most of the year for ground game, like rabbit and hare.